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Subthreshold K⁺ Channel Dynamics Interact With Stimulus Spectrum to Influence Temporal Coding in an Auditory Brain Stem Model

¹Center for Neural Science and ²Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, New York

Submitted 22 March 2007; accepted in final form 29 November 2007

Neurons in the auditory brain stem encode signals with exceptional temporal precision. A low-threshold potassium current, I_KLT, present in many auditory brain stem structures and thought to enhance temporal encoding, facilitates spike selection of rapid input current transients through an associated dynamic gate. Whether the dynamic nature of I_KLT interacts with the timescales in spectrally rich input to influence spike encoding remains unclear. We examine the general influence of I_KLT on spike encoding of stochastic stimuli using a pattern classification analysis between spike responses from a ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) model containing I_KLT, and the same model with the I_KLT dynamics removed. The influence of I_KLT on spike encoding depended on the spectral content of the current stimulus such that maximal I_KLT influence occurred for stimuli with power concentrated at frequencies low enough (<500 Hz) to allow I_KLT activation. Further, broadband stimuli significantly decreased the influence of I_KLT on spike encoding, suggesting that broadband stimuli are not well suited for investigating the influence of some dynamic membrane nonlinearities. Finally, pattern classification on spike responses was performed for physiologically realistic conductance stimuli created from various sounds filtered through an auditory nerve (AN) model. Regardless of the sound, the synaptic input arriving at VCN had similar low-pass power spectra, which led to a large influence of I_KLT on spike encoding, suggesting that the subthreshold dynamics of I_KLT plays a significant role in shaping the response of real auditory brain stem neurons.

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